


Stalker

by Vic_writes01



Series: Tumblr Prompts - Reddie [4]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Bad Parents Maggie Tozier & Wentworth Tozier, Cheating, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fake Dating, M/M, Physical Abuse, Protective Richie Tozier, Stalking, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21854653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vic_writes01/pseuds/Vic_writes01
Summary: Eddie's ex-boyfriend continuously stalks him after Eddie broke up with him. He finds Eddie in the comfort of Richie's apartment
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & OC, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Maggie Tozier/Wentworth Tozier
Series: Tumblr Prompts - Reddie [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573708
Comments: 2
Kudos: 122





	Stalker

“Eddie, please stop fucking pacing,” Richie groans for the umpteenth time. 

“Rich, what if he finds out where I am?” Eddie panics; and has been for the past 4 weeks since he broke up with his boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend. 

“If he did, he would’ve already come here.” Eddie doesn’t stop pacing even though he agrees with what Richie is saying. 

He’s been staying at Riche’s rundown apartment for 4 weeks since the inevitable break up. Too upset with himself, his ex-boyfriend had started stalking his friends to make sure they weren’t going to take him away from him. Especially Richie. It was like that throughout the year, Damian was growing more and more cautious of Richie. 

Yes, Richie, Stan, Bill and Eddie were close, but Damian hated the way that Richie always had to have a hand on Eddie whenever he wasn’t in the picture. The photos and videos that he often saw online made him red with anger and green with jealousy. 

Richie needed to go.

So Damian made sure that Eddie had no means of contacting his friends again. He stole Eddie’s phone and deleted numbers and social media platforms. He stalked Eddie and his friends to make sure that they never crossed paths.

Eddie had found out through one of Damian’s exes, Lucy had told Eddie about the manipulative behaviour, making it seem as if his friends never wanted to speak to Eddie ever again. Eddie, of course, didn’t believe her and kept with the relationship. 

It didn’t take long before he had spotted Damain’s car outside of his apartment, he was still in his car and what seemed to be binoculars. Eddie moved away from the window and ran to his bedroom. He felt alone, he couldn’t call Richie as he didn’t have his number memorised, he couldn’t call Bev, or Stan, or any of his friends. 

This went on for another month, Eddie planned on breaking up with Damian but needed a solid plan. He knew that Damian was cheating on him, he didn’t know how long but he caught the two hooking-up in the back of Eddie’s car. If he did it over text, he would be safe, if he did it over a phone call - also safe. In person, he wouldn’t be safe.

**** 

“I should’ve left sooner, especially when he deleted and blocked all of your numbers!” Eddie starts to tear up.

Now he knows how Richie felt after all those times he had snuck into Eddie’s bedroom. The harsh reality of being scared and having no safety barriers, well at least Richie had safety barriers, but Eddie didn’t. 

Richie had his friends to turn to. Bev was his drunk and high buddy, that was where he went every second Friday night. Eddie was where he’d go if things were extremely bad, sneaking in at all hours of the night, usually in tears. Nobody knew what Richie’s home life was like, except Eddie. Bev was told nothing in their drinking and weed sessions, just that he hated his parents but with no clear explanation. 

Eddie had no one, all his lifelines were closed because of his bastard ex-boyfriend. Sure he could’ve gone to Richie’s apartment but he couldn’t risk it. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to Richie. But he knew that if given the chance, Richie would do the exact same thing that Eddie had done for him for all those years.

*

A ping comes from Richie’s phone, an unknown number has sent him a photo, a clear view of Richie’s balcony, from across the street “Eds, get inside.” Richie murmurs not looking up from his phone. The way Richie had said the two words is enough to get Eddie sprinting into the safety of the apartment, Richie quickly follows and drags Eddie his bedroom. 

****

“M-my inhaler. W-w-where’s my in-inhaler?” Eddie pats down every pocket but can’t find his inhaler that he always keeps on him. The tall boy beside him reaches into his own jeans and pulls out an all too familiar blue inhaler.

“I got a spare in case.” Eddie smiles up at Richie and takes a couple of puffs of the inhaler. Even though he never needed it, the inhaler always comes in handy for stressful situations, it’s a habit he’s determined to break once this whole ex-boyfriend thing calms down. 

“You know, I got lucky,” Eddie whispers quietly, slowly sitting down on Richie’s bed.

“What do you mean?” Richie asks, he plunks down beside Eddie, gently rubbing his back.

“He cheated on me and I took that as my sign to leave.” Eddie hiccups while trying to stop an embarrassing sob escape his lips. “It wasn’t the controlling behaviour or the discrediting words it was the fact that he cheated!” He leans into Richie’s touch and slowly tilts his head onto his shoulder. 

Eddie didn’t understand, he doesn’t understand why this happened to him. He’s already been through hell and back with his mom shoving lies down his throat, the fact that he couldn’t open up about his sexuality until college in fear of bullying and being kicked out of the very Christian town because homophobia was a bitch back then He finally met a guy that he liked and that guy ended up being manipulative, he didn’t take the first 2 red flags as a warning to get out, instead it was the cheating.

“Eddie, you have never had an actual loving relationship with anyone, besides the losers.” Richie starts, “what he was doing, you may have seen it as love but it isn’t.”

“How do I know what real love is like?” 

“It’s different for everyone, remember what our friendship with the Losers was like?” Eddie nods. “Exactly like that but more intimate.”

It breaks Richie’s heart, the way that Eddie has been treated. It wasn’t the fear that gravitated Eddie towards Richie, it was the guilt that Eddie had when Richie had confronted Eddie about it 6 months into his relationship with Damian. Eddie should’ve left but he didn’t, wanting to truly believe that Damian loved him.

“You know, we can make him super jealous.” Richie perks up at Eddie’s words.

“I’m listening.”

“We fake date.” Richie is sure he almost had a heart attack, this is his dream coming true, except he isn’t actually going to be dating Eddie, only fake dating.

****

A few weeks after Eddie’s ‘fake dating’ suggestion, Richie and Eddie decide to finally make this fake relationship be seen by the public. Eddie felt like he was ready to push the boundaries and bring Damian out from the shadows. So the two set out on a date to the local cafe. It isn’t packed like it normally is, it was quiet. Richie stops suddenly at a table by the entrance, making Eddie walk right into Richie’s tall broadening frame. “Are you sure?” Eddie asks.

“That is the point of this, isn’t it? To be seen?” Richie responds.

“Right, sorry, forgot.” Eddie sits down across from Richie, the kaleidoscope of butterflies start to fly around in the pit of his abdomen, his heart rattles inside his chest. Why’s he nervous? He doesn’t know. He can’t fathom it. 

By the looks of things, Richie has actually tried to look presentable, something that Eddie hasn’t seen since Senior prom or maybe graduation? What once was stubble is now clean, his hair was brushed and was a voluminous curly mess. The clothes that Richie had chosen are freshly clean and aren’t wrinkled. There’s a subtle hint of cologne instead of his usual deodorant. It isn’t normal, if Eddie was Stan, his OCD would be sky-rocketing by now.

Richie moves his seat so that he was beside Eddie, instead of in front of him. His breathing hitches as Richie’s hand grazes his hand as he reaches for the cold water that is sitting in the middle of the table.

“What are you going to have?” Richie asks.

“Maybe some avocado toast, I’m not really hungry,” Eddie replies, Richie shrugs and heads in to order. Eddie pulls out his wallet so that he could pay Richie back for his breakfast, quickly glancing at the menu, “$13?” Of course, he was also getting a coffee, so maybe it wasn’t that expensive. 

“Right, now where were we?” The voice didn’t belong to Richie, it was the voice that could send shivers down anyone’s spine, it is all too familiar.

“I think you should leave,” Eddie says. “Before my boyfriend comes back.”

“Boyfriend? I’m your boyfriend.” 

“Damian, go away, I won’t hesitate to call the cops.” Damian sits down just as Richie comes into view. Eddie races to Richie and claims his lips onto his. It was forceful and demanding, it makes Richie stumble back before he kisses the shorter man back.

“Well well well, my suspicions were true about you Tozier.” 

“Damian.” The name comes out in a hiss from Richie’s Trashmouth. “You should go, wouldn’t want to cause any issues now would we?”

“I came to claim what is rightfully mine.” 

Eddie scoffs, all the bottled up anger that he had suppressed for 5 weeks is about to blow. Sure he may be ‘short’ and ‘wheezy’ according to most but he sure as hell could pack a punch. “What is rightfully yours? Am I an object to you? You cheated on me, you don’t get a second chance. You took my friends away when I really needed them. Goodbye Damian, oh and I informed the police of your little stalking trips. Have a nice life.” Eddie waves him off and kisses Richie again

“Wow, that was some kiss,” Richie breathes out, Eddie smiles and sits back down and hands Richie the $13. “No, this is on me.”

“But this is what we always do.”

“No, this is a date so I’m paying, like the good boyfriend I am.”

“Rich, we did it, the game’s up.” 

Richie sighs, “Eds, I like you. A lot. These past few weeks, I wasn’t pretending to be your boyfriend.”

“Rich -”

“Let me finish. I fell in love with you when you first let me into your bedroom after Maggie verbally abused me and Worthless pushed me into a mirror causing it to shatter and cut me. You patched me up, sure you had cleaned my wounds before, but you were there for me when no one else was.”

“Richie, we were 12. You couldn’t have -” Eddie stops himself.

“You showed me compassion, you let me cry. You gave me a second home instead of letting me sleep on the streets. You punched Henry Bowers in the face and kicked him in the balls when he called me gay slurs.” Eddie can tell that Richie’s on the verge of tears. “Yes we were 12 but I knew what love was because it was something my parents didn’t give me. The butterflies in my stomach, the flushing of my face whenever you caught me staring …” 

“Eds, I started to cover it up with dick jokes and jokes about your mother because my crush on you was getting obvious. Stan kept eyeballing me, Bev started to tease me, Ben wanted to talk about pining thinking we were one and the same. And poor Bill had to warn me about concealment when he saw that I got a hardon because of you at senior prom.” Eddie feels his face turn red from embarrassment, Richie was close to yelling and everyone had potentially heard about Richie’s boner only 5 years ago.

With that, Eddie left, he handed Richie the $13 and an extra $13 upon leaving. It’s all too much, Damian crashing Richie’s and Eddie’s ‘date’, Eddie kissing Richie twice and finally Richie telling Eddie how he feels. It’s all too much. He couldn’t sit there any longer.

****

Later that night, Eddie couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned but still remained awake. With no other option, he walked down the road to Richie’s apartment complex. It was a much nicer building and had much nicer apartments, it was more expensive than Eddie’s. But then again, Richie is earning more, working three jobs, one at a radio station and another at a music store, and the monthly comedy gig at one of the many bars in the neighbourhood. 

The elevator ride up feels slow, like Eddie was on cloud 9. It’s like he’s in a dream but no, he’s in reality with the lack of sleep and so he feels a little loopy. It’s 10 at night so Richie should theoretically be home from the station. 

The loud ding from the elevator brings Eddie out of his dazed trance and heads for Richie’s apartment door. 606, 608, 609 … 612 bingo! Eddie knocks on the purple coated door hoping that Richie is home. 

“Eds?” Saying that Richie is shocked is an understatement, he was sure that when Eddie left him earlier that day, that he had fucked up their friendship.

“I uh -”

“Can’t sleep either? You can stay here.” Richie says. “I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”

“Rich, wait.” Eddie closes the door behind him and walks towards Richie. “I was -” Eddie couldn’t be bothered to form the rest of the sentence so he kisses him instead. It’s short and not forceful like the one at the cafe but it was sweet.

“I fucked up, I had an opportunity to ask you out in high school, I had an opportunity to take you to prom. You asked me to live with you and I turned you down. I then fucked up even more when I went out with the first guy I laid eyes on because I thought you no longer liked me.”

“When?” Richie asks. If this is a joke, if Eddie is making fun of him for falling in love with the hypochondriac, he’s definitely going to lose it.

“I found out you carried my spare inhaler when we were 14, you memorised all 60 of my allergies, 55 of them are fake and so you memorised the ones that aren’t.” Eddie blushes and walks closer to the tall comedian. “You didn’t give two fucks when I sat in the hammock with you, or when I sat in your lap. The last two made me realise that maybe you liked me too.”

Richie can’t wait, he kissed Eddie.

“I secretly love it when you call me ‘Eds’.” Richie gasps, he called it! He knew it was too good to be true whenever Eddie told him that he hated it. Richie instantly kisses him again, not wanting to stop but knows that if he isn’t careful it’ll go in a direction that would be too soon for both of them.


End file.
